Arang And The Magistrate

Cast :
Lee Jun Ki, Shin Min Ah, Yeon Woo Jin, Hwang Bora, Kwon Oh Jung, Kang Moon Young

Language : 
Korean 

Synopsis :
A nobleman named Kim Eun-oh comes to town searching for his mother after hearing a rumor that she is staying at the village of Miryang. He has the special ability to see spirits, but pretends he doesn't because he gets annoyed when spirits come up to him asking for a favor.

Arang has lost all her memories when she became a ghost and is unable to rest in peace until she finds out how she ended up dead. However, after appearing to three magistrates, none of them survive the fright of seeing her. When she finds out that Eun-oh is able to see her, she begs for his help.

At first, Eun-oh rejects her request. However he changes his mind after seeing that Arang is somehow in possession of the hairpin that he gave his mother at their last meeting. He believes that if he helps her, Arang will regain her memories and give him information about his mother. He exasperatedly (then affectionately) nicknames her ‘Amnesia’ and as the town's newly installed magistrate, he teams up with her to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death, which may involve the mysterious nobleman Joo-wal and have supernatural ramifications.

Remarks :
One of my most anticipated dramas in 2012^^ I thoroughly enjoy this show from start to finish, because it really did feel like thought and care was put into the construction of an entire world, where mythology and rules were important. And visually, I’m a big fan of this director. I did see a huge gap in quality between the earlier episodes and when the show began to catch up and shoot live, so I think it’s a show that benefits massively from the extra edit/CG pass, but it was certainly a show that cared to tell its story visually, which makes me a fan.

I thought the contemplative goodbyes in voice-over for each of our main characters was a nice touch, and reinforced the life-affirming, cyclical nature of everything in this world. I’ve always had a soft spot for the epic romances that span multiple lifetimes, but they can be tricky to pull off in a satisfying way. It might’ve worked even better for me if they had crossed paths again as adults, but I do enjoy the humor in having a pair of kids meet with their adult personalities and memories. The chemistry between the leads was so good that it actually transfers onto the little kids, because you can see their characteristics so clearly. I think at the end of the day that’s what made the show so compelling—the world was populated with rich, distinct characters, and they had a sparkling kind of chemistry. It was nice to come along for a ride with a planned story from start to finish, and a really successful balance of humor, action, mystery, suspense, fantasy, and romance. It’s not often genre shows can manage to do all that, with so much heart to boot. And I’m not even mad at the moon anymore.